Hand truck



June 16, 1925.

H. C. SLINGSBY HAND TRUCK Filed June 14.. 24

6') M MIM If 7' all! 73.

Patented June 16, 1925.

PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY C. ELI NGSBY, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

' mun rauox,

Application fled June 14, 1924. Serial No. 719,980.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY Cnow'rmnz SLINGSBY, a British subject, residing at 95 Kingsway, London, W. C. 2, England, have invented certain new and useful Improve ments in Hand Trucks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to improvements in hand trucks, and it consists in an improved hand truck of the ty havmg two wheels mounted on a pair, of s afts near their front ends, the said shafts being braced together to form a platform or chassis and their rear ends being formed or provided with handles, and a r1g1dly mounted lifting plate which; pro ects at right angles to theshafts at their front ends.

The object of the invention is to provide a hand truck adapted for lifting and transporting with ease and safety a heavy load under which the lifting plate can be introduced, and for this purpose the lifting plate is provided with a roller (or rollers) adapted to roll on the ground when the shafts are raised into an approximately vertical position, the shafts are rounded at their front ends so that the truck can rock on the said ends in tilting it to bring the weight of the load to bear on the wheels, and the said wheels are mounted on the shafts at such a distance from the said ends that, when the shafts are in a vertical position and .1 the weight of the load is supports the lifting plate is engaged under a load with its roller positioned a little to the rear of the centre of gravity of the load, the truck can be tilted with a minimum of exertion to bri-ng the weight of the load to bear upon the wheels. The roller. constitutes a fulcrum for the first part of the tilting movement, which brings the truck into a position in which it bears partly upon the said roller and partly u on the rounded ends of the shafts. A furt er tilting movement causes the truck to rock on the rounded ends of the shafts until the wheels touch the ground, in which osition partly by the wheels and partly by the rounded ends of the shafts; and a final tilting movement transfers the load entirely to the wheels. The truck is fpreferably provided with a caster or pair 0 casters mounted on a bracket or brackets at the rear of the aforesaid wheels to enable the truck to be turned with ease or to be manipulated like a on the wheels A and the caster three or four wheeled truck, but I make no claim to that er se.

The inventlon is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Flg. 1 is a perspective side view offa hand truck embodylng a preferred form of the constructional features which constitute the invention.

Fig. 2 shows the same truck with its lifting plate introduced under a loaded plat form; and

Fig. 3 is a. erspective view of the truck lying on its si e.

Referring to the drawing, the wheels A aremounted on the shafts B in any usual manner but at some distance from their ends, the saidends of the shafts are curved or rounded and preferably shod with metal bands at b, and the lifting plate C is provided on its under side with rollers c.

The caster d shownin the drawing enables the truck to be used as a three wheeled truck and also constitutes a safety device when the load is heavy and piled high, be-

with ease in asmall space when it is bearin The sai caster may however be dispensed with, or a pair of casters may be substituted for it.

It is usual to stack goods in warehouses on low platforms e as shown in Fig. 2, and the improved truck has been designed more particularly for transporting such loaded platforms. The height of the platform supports f should be such that the lifting plate C can be readily run under it on the rollers c, the said rollers being preferably positioned a little to the rear of the centre of gravity of the load and the diameter of the rollers being such that, when the shafts are in a vertical position, the truck bears upon the floor solely through the said rollers and, when the load'is to be moved, the rollers constitute a fulcrum in the first part of the tilting movement.

A eomparativel slight ull upon the handles serves to tilt the loa ed truck from the position shown in Fig. 2 into a position in which it bears artly upon the rollers 0 and partly upon t e rounded ends I) of the shafts; a further pull causes the truck to rock on the said rounded ends until'the wheels A touch the floor; and another pull brings it to bear wholly on the wheels. The bearings of the rollers a may 'be adjustable to suit different kindsof loads, and

claim: The combination in a two-wheeled hand 5 truck of a pair of shafts formed with rounded ends on which the truck can be rocked in a vertical plane when the shafts are raised into an approxlma'tely vertlcal position, a wheel mounted on each shaft at 10 such a distance from its rounded end that the said wheels are clear of the ground when the shafts have been raised to bring the said rounded ends to bear upon the ground, a

point some distance from the rounded ends of said shafts and adapted to roll on the ground when the shafts are raised into a 'verticalposition and also to form a fulcrum in tilting'the truck to raise a load under which the lifting plate has been introduced.

H. C. SLINGSBY. 

